"Before" pictures

 We are in our new home!  We decided a little over a month ago to look at buying a house instead of renting as we had planned.  Our temporary housing was great and we are thankful that it was provided but we were ready to go!  (Plus it ran out at the end of this month so we really had a short time to find something and avoid paying a TON of money to keep our things in storage and find a new rental.)

The search began.  We had a wonderful real estate agent, Beth, who quickly realized what we liked.  We looked at homes that were both brand new and also ones that were built within the last 10 years or so.  After seeing the brand new homes, we realized that was the way the way that we wanted to go.  We thought about a couple we had seen and decided to make an offer on one.  Well, guess what?  Gone!  They sell super fast apparently.  We had a couple of 2nd choices and looked in to those and guess what?  Gone again!  We found that we really liked one particular builder, Legendary Homes, and decided to go back and look at the communities in our price range and area that we were interested in.  We found OUR HOME!  We made an offer that was accepted and the financing part began.

Two days ago, we closed.  Since it was a new build, we took immediate possession and happily headed over to our new house.  We moved our apartment belongings over, picked up Jack, and spent our first night in the house.  We had zero furniture for the first night.  Well, actually Jack had his seat!  We had Jet's pizza and had a great night.

Some things from Michigan (and other places too!)

Lucky for Jack, his toy load increased over these past few months.  He had many things available to him until the rest of his things arrived!

I took yesterday and today off from work to take delivery on everything and try to get the house in order.  at 7:30 a.m., the truck appeared!  It took them 6 hours to unload.  Twice as long as it took the guys to pack and load in Michigan, BUT there were only two guys this time.  

It was weird and kind of emotional to unpack Jack's bottle and baby things.  He was still using them a bit when we moved but they are useless now!  They were unpacked and then packed again.  

I was super happy to see our Cuisinart again.  I love making burritos and quesadillas on this thing.  In fact, as soon as I unpacked the spices, I started some chicken in the crock pot (which was also VERY missed) for burritos later!  

Keep in mind, these are "before" pics.  We have a lot of work to do but I know some of you wanted to see pictures and honestly, I have a little time right now to do this.  :) 

Our amazing master suite bathroom.  We have a deep and wonderful tub, a shower, a nice walk in closet and a double sink.  

Our new bed and bedding.  Again, we were very grateful for the temporary housing.  However, the bed was quite possibly the cheapest bed that they could buy.  It was TERRIBLE!  This one here, not so much. We slept on it for the first time last night and it was perfect!

This space off of the bedroom is pretty cool!  

The future office and craft room.  I am excited to have space to do a little work in the evenings and also to craft again.  

Jack's room definitely needs some work but he slept like a rock in his crib last night.  He seems to like it.  

One of my "must haves" - an open floor plan.  I am standing in the dining room, looking in to the kitchen, with the breakfast table area and then living room farther out.  Oh, and there is Presley.  She scared us pretty badly a couple of weeks ago but is here with us and seems to enjoy the home.  She has a hard time with the stairs so she may have to do her guard dog/lazy duties primarily downstairs.  

More on our home adventures to come!  I think Jack is going to get a chance to check out his new sprinkler and water table today.  He LOVES water so I can imagine he'll have a good time.

Michigan Trip

We made a quick trip to Michigan this past weekend to visit with family and friends and meet Caleb, our new nephew.  He is such a great baby and we are so happy for Andy and Cheryl!!  

Jack's cousin, Alana, was quite the helper!  She played with him a lot and kept on eye on him which we loved!!!! :)  He loved hanging out with his cousins.  

At Grandma Sheila's house, he decided he needed a big people cup, which was about as big as he!

We hosted a baby shower for the new and expecting parents, Andy and Cheryl.  They are awesome!

The two Prince Fielder fans were checking out the patio area (and Zoe too!).

On our return travel day, we visited Jungle Java's with Grandma Sheila. They had a blast playing in the toddler area. 

All of my parent's grandbabies!!!  So cute!

We met up with the Hoags on Saturday night for some downtown Ann Arbor fun.  They boys were holding hands and hanging out barefoot style! SUPER cute.

Then there was more playtime with friends - swimming with Sophia and Greyson.  

Post swim!  Swim hair is the best!!!!! 

 

We had flight issues both ways on this trip.  On the way to Michigan, we had a 3 hour delay.  We arrived at Detroit Metro around midnight.  On the way back, the air conditioning on the plane wasn't working really well, which caused sweaty head!  Jack is such a great traveler overall but the heat and being "stuck" sitting on our laps on the plane doesn't create the best conditions.  

We arrived back in Greenville late Tuesday night.  It was back to work the next day and then a walk through on our new house.  More on that soon!  

Wonderful visits from family

We were lucky enough to have visits from family for the first 

two weekends in May.  My parents came to visit first.  We visited downtown Greenville, tried to find a peach picking farm, swam, attended a Greenville Drive game, visited the zoo - all around a great time!  

Friday night we visited Downtown Alive in Greenville.

The zoo!  

  We had a special surprise for them!  I had submitted Jack to be a contestant during a baby-toddler race in the 3rd inning of the Greenville Drive game.  He did so well for about 1/4 of the race, then was distracted by the mascot and announcer and ran to another mom. Priceless!

Still looking good here....

Eric's mom, Sheila, came to visit the following weekend.  We went to the zoo, hung out in downtown Greenville again, where Jack danced, and we drove up to Asheville and on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was so beautiful to drive in the mountains on such a long and winding route!  

Greenville has a fun little water area that Jack has hung out at before but not completely enjoyed, until Grandma Sheila was here!  He played in the spouts and thoroughly enjoyed himself.  He wasn't too happy to leave.  

Great memories.  We can't wait to have more visitors... in our new house!!!!!  3 weeks until we move in and we are all thrilled!